VantageScore Solutions Issues Statement Reacting to FHFA’s Proposed Rules for Validating and Approving New Credit Scoring Models

December 17, 2018

Stamford, Conn VantageScore® Solutions, LLC, the company behind the VantageScore credit scoring models, released today the following statement regarding FHFA’s flawed interpretation of the statutes requiring credit score competition in the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018:

Last year, FICO imposed a historic price increase on mortgage borrowers for a scoring model approaching 20 years old. That is the essence of monopolistic behavior and control.

Director Watt’s proposed rule would perpetuate and strengthen that monopoly by ruling all of FICO’s current competitors “ineligible.” Simply put, the language is not reflective of the intention and desire that Congress had when it passed the credit score competition provisions of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018.

Should the proposed rule stand, the federal government would be picking winners and losers to the detriment of millions of consumers.

We look forward to providing commentary and working with the new incoming Director of FHFA. We presume that the next Director will share Congress’s desire for a competitive and fair credit scoring market.

For over 12 years, VantageScore has competed on a fair playing field in all loan categories except for the mortgage market. This competition has led to more predictive, more consumer-friendly, and more inclusive credit scoring models. Those circumstances refute claims that VantageScore Solutions and/or its owners would gain some type of anticompetitive advantage if VantageScore were to be accepted in the mortgage space.

As VantageScore has stated in the past, the exclusive use of FICO Scores as a gateway to homeownership provides the company a decided competitive advantage. It ensures that FICO has an imprint in almost every depository institution and with almost every institutional investor, regulator, ratings agency, re-seller, and technology vendor. That imprint inhibits competition by raising switching costs and granting the irreplaceable brand value of utter ubiquity. It gives FICO unparalleled and highly controversial negotiating leverage with almost every participant in the industry.

About VantageScore Solutions

Credit scores can impact many aspects of your life, everything from whether you are able to get a loan and how much interest you will have to pay to whether you are able to rent an apartment. At VantageScore, we understand the impact credit scores have and we take that responsibility seriously.

VantageScore Solutions, LLC (www.VantageScore.com) is the independently managed company that owns the intellectual property rights to the VantageScore credit scoring models and is the leader in scoring innovation. The recently introduced VantageScore 4.0 model scores approximately 30 million consumers who typically are not scored by conventional models – without sacrificing predictiveness.

VantageScore credit scores are used by lenders, landlords, utility companies, telecom companies, and many others to determine creditworthiness. A recent study found that nearly 10.5 billion VantageScore credit scores were used by over 2,800 unique users including over 2,200 lenders from July 2017 to June 2018. By using the VantageScore model, these enterprises have access to many more consumers, and in turn, consumers have greater access to mainstream credit.

While there are many credit scoring models in the industry, the “win-win” for VantageScore is its innovative, highly predictive, patent-protected, tri-bureau scoring methodology that provides lenders and consumers with more consistent credit scores across all three national credit reporting companies.